WAR  WITH  JAPAN? 


By  Dk.  THOMAS  E.  GREEN 
International  Lecturer  of  the  American  Peace  Society 
Author  of  “The  Burden  of  the  Nations;” 
“The  Forces  that  Failed;” 

“Who  Pays?”,  etc. 


The  American  Peace  Society 
Washington,  D.  C. 

1916 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN? 


By  Dr.  THOMAS  E.  GREEN 

International  Lecturer  of  the  American  Peace  Society 
Author  of  “The  Burden  of  the  Nations;” 
“The  Forces  that  Failed;” 

“Who  Pays?”,  etc. 


The  American  Peace  Society 
Washington,  D.  C. 

1916 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/warwithjapanOOgree 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN? 


Hysterical  enthusiasm  has  no  wit. 

Particularly  if  it  be  spurious  and  intriguing,  it  takes 
leave  of  logic,  and  forgets  to  fortify  itself  with  reason. 

To  carry  a questionable  point,  designing  men  often 
take  leave  of  common  sense. 

Profit  is  a risky  foundation  for  even  an  unscrupulous 
philosophy;  an  itching  palm  and  tingling  fingers  often 
overreach  the  watchful  warning  of  shrewd  mentality. 

Selfishness  seldom  stops  to  calculate  ultimate  results. 

Nothing  in  the  continual  campaigning  for  “prepared- 
ness” is  so  reckless,  so  utterly  criminal  in  its  inanity,  as 
the  constant  playing  up  of  the  “Japanese  Menace”  as 
a reason  why  we  should  be  in  a condition  of  “adequate 
and  efficient  readiness.” 

Aside  from  the  prejudice  and  wicked  mis  judgment 
that  is  being  whipped  into  foam  by  the  scheming  “War 
Trust”  and  its  masquerade  equivalent,  the  “Navy 
League,”  there  is  a psychological  fact  in  this  prepared- 
ness madness  that  must  not  be  overlooked  It  is  the 
secondary,  far-way  result  of  continually  harping  upon 
a thing  that  may  not  in  reality  exist. 

The  Book  of  Ancient  Wisdom  puts  the  fact  into  an 
epigram,  when  it  writes  as  an  invariable  rule  of  char- 
acter this  fundamental  rule,  “as  he  thinketh  in  his 
heart,  so  is  he.” 

A thoughtful  student  of  current  events  has  para- 
phrased the  proverb  into  an  up-to-date  syllabus,  thus : 

^WThen  the  people  of  one  nation  go  busily 
about,  saying  that  war  with  another  nation  is 
inevitable,  by  those  very  words  they  come 
prettey  near  making  it  so.” 

(3) 


4 


History,  past  and  current,  is  an  indisputable  com- 
mentary upon  that  fact.  Ho  nation  has  ever  built  and 
maintained  a vast  naval  and  military  establishment 
hut  that  readiness,  and  the  spirit  that  preparedness 
creates,  have  found  in  what  have  often  been  insignificant 
affairs  a cause  for  war.  The  mental  toxin,  bred  by 
oft-considered  and  repeated  possibility,  brings  as  a logi- 
cal result  probability  and  eventually  certainty. 

How  much  more  malicious,  then,  is  the  combination 
of  preparedness  and  agitation — a shrewdly  manipulated 
campaign  for  a widely  augmented  militarism,  and  side 
by  side  with  it  an  utterly  gratuitous  preachment  of  an 
entirely  suppositive  peril. 

In  a way  this  astounding  attempt  to  innoculate  the 
American  mind  with  mistrust  and  apprehension  regard- 
ing Japan  is  logical  enough. 

The  War  Trust  is  determined  to  force  vast  appro- 
priation and  expenditure  in  order  that  we  may  be  “pre- 
pared.” 

Prepared  against  what? 

Merely  to  use  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  for 
which  we  have  far-reaching  need  along  scores  of  lines, 
in  giving  great  corporations  an  opportunity  for  inordi- 
nate profit  would  he  not  only  farcical  but  criminal  in  the 
last  degree.  We  have  enough  of  that  sort  of  thing, 
heaven  knows,  in  the  ordinary  waste  of  political  manipu- 
lation. 

There  must  he  preparedness  against  something  tan- 
gible. The  people  must  he  swept  into  a contagion  of  fear, 
an  epidemic  of  palpable  disaster. 

Until  the  great  world-war  had  swept  the  belligerent 
nations  to  the  very  verge  of  bankruptcy  and  exhaustion, 
it  was  easy  enough  to  talk  impersonally  about  the  “vic- 
tor” in  Europe,  leaping  nimhly  from  among  innumerable 
corpses  and  impoverished  people,  and  faring  gaily  forth 
to  begin  a fresh  war  with  an  hundred  million  fresh  and 
sturdy  people  over  sea.  The  sheer  inanity  of  the  thing 
was  disregarded.  It  was  enough  to  raise  the  hue  and 
cry. 


5 


But  the  European  menace  is  fading  away  now  in  the 
flame  and  smoke  of  the  world’s  climacteric  of  horror. 
Undismayed  the  Quixotic  and  unscrupulous  War  Trust 
create  a new  bugbear  and  conjure  up  a fresh  frenzy. 
War  with  Japan,  they  now  vociferate,  is  inevitable.  And 
Japan  in  her  far-off  islands  is  wondering  how  and  why — 
but  touched  as  she  cannot  help  being  by  the  continual 
reiteration  of  the  gruesome  thing,  is  of  necessity  fram- 
ing a mental  picture,  and  asking  if  it  can  really  be. 

Give  the  War  Trust  room  and  rope  and  they  will  de- 
liver the  goods.  We  shall  have  war  with  Japan,  how- 
ever unnecessary  and  horrible  the  thing  may  be. 

The  great  difficulty  is  to  get  the  real  facts  squarely 
before  the  people.  They  do  not  know,  or  at  any  rate 
do  not  stop  to  consider,  that  the  ultra-patriotic  Navy 
League  and  the  ultra-plutocratic  War  Trust  are  one 
and  the  same  thing.  That  the  officers  and  directors  of 
the  Navy  League  are  almost  to  a man  directors  or 
stockholders  of  the  great  armor-plate  war  supply  and 
ammunition  corporations,  who  alone  of  all  our  millions 
of  people  would  make  profit  out  of  war  and  coin  Ameri- 
can blood  into  tainted  gold. 

And  the  misfortune  is  that  the  means  of  public  in- 
formation are  so  largely  dominated  by  the  delusion  that 
sensation,  however  groundless,  is  the  only  news  worth 
featuring.  There  are  unhappily  few  of  our  great  news- 
papers that  would  waste  headlines  in  announcing  sane 
and  sober  truth.  It  is  a journalistic  waste  of  ink  to 
assure  the  people  that  righteousness  and  peace  have 
met  each  other. 

But  a mere  rumor — utterly  unreliable  as  to  source  and 
content — shrieks  in  sable  capitals  its  message  of  false- 
hood and  alarm. 

What  the  American  people  need  above  all  else  just 
now  IS  a candid,  reliable  estimate  of  the  relations  and 
the  problems  that  exist  between  Japan  and  the  United 
States. 

It  is  easy  enough  to  read  and  be  influenced  by  lurid 
articles  dealing  with  Japanese  conditions,  and  setting 
forth  Japanese  purposes.  It  might  be  salutary  to  re- 


6 


member  that  a l3.rge  proportion  of  these  are  written  by 
men  who  have  never  been  in  Japan,  and  who,  aside  from 
utterly  gratuitous  assumption,  have  no  adequate  idea 
of  the  Japanese  mind. 

And  it  may  be  well  to  remember  that  the  larger  part 
of  our  present  estimate  of  the  question  comes  from  the 
badly  and  sadly  involved  politics-  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
and  are  a part  of  the  involved  and  everlasting  “labor 
problem,”  played  there  to  a finish  as  an  issue  in  vote- 
getting and  office-seeking. 

There,  of  course,  the  great  charge  is  that  Japan  is 
not  only  using  this  country  as  an  overflow  for  its  con- 
gested population;  that  the  Japanese  are  not  only 
swamping  California,  but  before  long  they  will  overrun 
large  sections  of  the  country,  and  own  our  best  land; 
and  that,  worst  of  all,  they  are  being  strategically 
placed  in  view  of  an  unpreventable  war  to  come,  and 
are  acting  as  spies  and  advance  guards  for  a future  in- 
vading army.  With  various  modifications  and  elabora- 
tions, these  things  have  become  current  opinion  with 
multitudes  of  well-meaning  but  unthinking  people. 

There  are  few  to  take  the  trouble  to  counteract  these 
weird  and  utterly  fallacious  statements. 

The  truth  is  that  in  all  the  twenty-five  years  since 
Japanese  immigration  began,  there  have  come  to  the 
United  States  less  than  85,000  Japanese.  Of  these 
over  15,000  have  returned.  Since  the  “gentleman’s 
agreement”  between  Count  Komura  and  Secretary  John 
Hay  immigration  has  been  negligible. 

During  the  past  fifteen  years  more  than  2,500,000 
Italians  have  come  to  America,  but  no  one  has  ever 
raised  the  cry  of  an  Italianized  America. 

During  1913  alone  197,722  Poles  were  admitted — dur- 
ing the  same  year  164,631  Croatian,  Lithuanian,  and 
like  aliens  arrived,  and  in  all  these  multitudes  the  stand- 
ard of  intelligence,  thrift,  and  morals  was  far  below 
that  of  the  70,000  Japanese,  the  product  of  twenty-five 
years  of  incoming. 

Japan  has  never,  even  in  the  face  of  California’s  most 
drastic  agitation  and  legislation,  professed  her  intention 


7 


of  insisting  that  her  people  come  to  America.  All  that 
she  has  contended  for  was  their  right  to  come.  No 
one  but  a fool  could  picture  a nation  willing  to  fight  for 
the  privilege  of  losing  her  subjects. 

Of  course  there  are  multitudes  of  Japanese  in  Hawaii. 
But  be  it  remembered  that  they  came  there  not  by  J apa- 
nese  initiative,  but  by  the  insistent  invitation  of  the 
sugar  planters,  who  found  the  mongrel  labor  unsatis- 
factory and  unprofitable,  while  the  Japanese  were  in- 
dustrious, frugal,  efficient,  and  dependable. 

And,  to  dismiss  this  phase  of  the  discussion,  let  me 
quote  from  a recently  received  copy  of  the  Honolulu 
Star-Bulletin  an  extract  from  an  address  to  the  Japanese 
Citizens’  Association  by  its  president,  Mr.  S.  Sokabe. 
There  are  many  men  belonging  to  races  which  from  their 
self-assumed  superiority  look  down  upon  the  so-called 
“undesireable  alien”  who  may  well  learn  wisdom  from 
this  straight,  plain  candor.  He  said: 

“ 1 ou  who  were  born  in  Hawaii  are  not  sons 
of  the  Emperor.  If  trouble  should  ever  come- 
with  Japan,  3'ou  must  remember  that  you  are 
sons  of  America  and  not  of  Japan.  Aim  to 
work  for  the  best  examples  of  citizenship,  and 
then  aim  to  work  for  peace.” 

With  all  our  wealth  of  tradition  behind  us,  with  the 
very  genius  of  our  Constitution  pledged  to  the  providing 
for  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  for  the 
universal  brotherhood  of  humanity,  it  is  strange  indeed 
that  any  real  American  should  fail  to  respond  to  the 
spirit  of  such  an  appeal. 

Not  content  with  the  dissemination  of  envenomed  sug- 
gestion as  to  the  purpose  of  our  military  preparation, 
certain  articles  are  constantly  appearing  in  American 
newspapers,  to  the  effect  that  a strong  and  infiuential 
organization  in  Japan  is  preparing  for  and  advising  war 
with  this  country.  A certain  chain  of  newspapers  re- 
cently published  serially  the  contents  of  a book  by  a 
Japanese  author,  called  “War  between  Japan  and  the 
United  States,”  and  numberless  papers  have  printed 
cleverly  prepared  abstracts  of  the  book,  alleging  for  it 
official  authority. 


8 


There  was  such  a book  prepared  and  printed.  It 
was  published  in  Japan  at  the  time  of  the  agitation  in 
California  regarding  alien  ownership  of  land.. 

It  was  written  by  a newspaper  reporter  familiar 
enough  with  international  jingoism  to  make  an  highly 
imaginative  and  luridly  readable  tale.  It  was  of  ex- 
actly the  sort  as  Thomas  Dixon’s  flamboyant  story  of  an 
invaded  America,  or  the  hideously  impossible  yarn  em- 
bodied in  “The  Battle  Cry  of  Peace.”  And  its  object 
and  purpose  were  exactly  the  same — to  sell  by  virtue  of 
its  sensationalism,  and  make  profit  for  its  author.  In 
order  to  do  this,  it  was  given  a fabricated  authorship, 
and  “The  National  Defense  Association”  was  given  as 
the  responsible  authority.  It  was  illustrated  with 
portraits  of  Japanese  officials,  and  also  of  the  President 
and  War  Secretary  of  the  United  States.  It  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly clever  imitation  of  a lot  of  similar  stuff  pro- 
duced here,  and  has  been  translated  into  English  and 
circulated  in  this  country  as  a justification  of  the  War 
Trust’s  insidious  suggestion  as  to  coming  peril. 

It  chances  that  I have  been  much  in  Japan  in  recent 
years,  and  fortunately  have  unquestioned  source  for 
trustworthy  information.  And  this  is  the  answer  of 
official  Japan  in  regard  to  this  much-trumpeted  cause 
of  alarm; 

1.  “There  is  not  now  and  never  has  been 
such  an  organization  as  ‘The  National  Defense 
xlssociation  of  Japan.’ 

“2.  No  statesman,  official,  nor  any  re- 
sponsible person  in  Japan  had  any  part  what- 
ever in  the  preparation  of  the  story. 

“3.  It  is  the  work  of  a Japanese  of  no  con- 
sequence nor  influence,  prepared  for  his  per- 
sonal profit,  and  does  not  in  the  least  reflect 
any  recognized  opinion  or  sentiment.” 

And  from  an  authoritative  source  in  California,  where 
the  book  has  been  zealously  circulated,  probably  by  the 
Exclusion  League,  comes  the  opinion  that  its  publicity 
is  largely  due  to  the  head  of  that  League,  the  bellicose 
and,  if  his  name  be  any  criterion,  sterling  American, 
Tveitmoe,  one  of  the  men  said  to  have  been  connected 
with  the  dynamiting  of  the  Los  Angeles  Times. 


9 


With  equal  reason  might  any  European  power  attempt 
to  judge  the  policy  of  the  American  Government  by  our 
own  literature  of  jingoism. 

Is  it  worth  while,  in  the  face  of  misrepresentation 
and  deliberate  perversion,  to  listen  to  these  words  from 
the  Premier  of  Japan?  Count  Okuma  is  the  sage  of 
his  nation.  Nearly  four-score  years  in  age,  he  has  been 
a strong  influence  in  guiding  his  nation  from  feudalism 
to  Twentieth  Century  civilization.  From  the  climax  of 
a long  and  honorable  career  he  speaks  the  language  of 
disinterested  patriotism.  His  world  has  no  honor  that 
he  has  not  already  received.  He  said: 

^‘There  never  was  a war  party  in  Japan. 
There  never  was  any  real  war  sentiment  in 
Japan.  And  neither  exists  now.  There  has 
never  been  a responsible  agitation  in  this 
country  for  war  between  Japan  and  the  United 
States.  What  there  has  been  or  is,  is  the  echo 
of  agitation  and  war  talk  that  began  in  your 
country.  We  have  jingoes  here,  just  as  you 
have  jingoes  in  America.  When  your  jingoes 
and  the  selflsh  interests  they  serve  cry  war  in 
America,  our  jingoes  and  our  sensational  press 
take  up  the  cry.  But  it  is  neither  responsible 
nor  official. 

‘‘How  could  there  be  war  between  Japan 
and  the  United  States?  Your  country  will 
never  be  the  aggressor,  and  Japan  never  will 
be.  What,  then,  could  or  would  start  a war? 

Who  talks  of  war  between  us?  Not  your  gov- 
ernment. Not  my  government.  Are  the  rela- 
tions of  two  people  whose  friendship  is  not 
only  cordial,  but  traditional,  to  be  disturbed 
by  sensationalists  and  rumormongers,  by  jin- 
goes and  a yellow  press?  I do  not  think  so. 

No  intelligent  person  in  Japan  thinks  so. 

Our  national  ways  and  your  are  ways  of  peace 
and  enlightenment  and  commerce  and  friend- 
ship— and  not  the  savage  and  brutal  ways  of 
war.” 

In  the  face  of  such  a statement  from  the  highest  pos- 
sible authority,  agitation,  insinuation,  misrepresentation, 
falsehood,  nakedly  set  forth  and  with  a deliberate  pur- 


10 


pose  of  evil,  are  crimes  beyond  the  power  of  words  to 
describe. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  this  constant 
parading  of  the  war  spectre  has  failed  to  produce  its 
logical  result.  The  constant  dropping  of  water  will 
wear  away  a rock,  and  the  mind  and  soul  of  a nation  is 
far  more  easily  worn  not  only  to  irritation,  but  to  in- 
flammation. 

And  let  it  be  frankly  said  that  no  real  and  intelligent 
student  of  things  ISTiponese  can  fail  to  admire  the  ad- 
mirable self-control  with  which  official  Japan  is  meeting 
this  constant  and  malicious  insinuation. 

That  they  are  beginning  to  wonder  and  to  consider 
is  unquestionable.  They  could  not  rationally  do  other- 
wise. It  is  to  their  eternal  credit  that  they  are  consider- 
ing sanely  and  carefully. 

There  lie's  before  me  a recent  copy  of  the  “Japan 
Advertiser,”  whose  leading  editorial,  authentic  and 
authoritative,  should  be  read  and  carefully  considered 
by  every  thoughful  and  impartial  American.  One  or 
two  paragraphs  from  this  remarkable  article  are  of 
paramount  interest,  because  I have  reason  to  know  that 
it  represents  the  best  thought  and  opinion  of  Japan. 
It  begins: 

“Every  intelligent  citizen  of  Japan  and  the 
United  States  has  been  conscious  for  some 
years  past  of  a change  in  the  relations  of  the 
two  countries.  The  old-time  cordiality  has 
given  place  to  a feeling  of  doubtfulness.  A 
strange  fact,  in  that  while  trade  has  improved, 
and  personal  connections  have  always  been 
most  cordial,  diplomatic  relations  have  shown  a 
tendency  to  gravitate  from  cordiality  to  ^cor- 
rectness.’ 

“The  question  which  lovers  of  each  country, 
lovers  of  both  countries,  lovers  of  peace  and 
civilization,  have  to  ask  themselves,  is  whether 
this  uncertainty  of  feeling,  this  suspense  of 
cordiality,  has  its  origin  in  a real  conflict  of 
those  vital  interests  for  which  upon  due  provo- 
cation nations  will  go  to  war,  or  whether  it  is 
merely  the  temporary  uncertainty  of  passing 
and  adjustable  misunderstandings.” 


11 


The  writer  then  proceeds  to  an  analysis  of  the  causes 
of  friction  and  misunderstanding.  He  takes  up  what 
he  calls  the  ^'silly,  though  understandable,”  school  in- 
cident in  San  Francisco  leading  up  to  the  dispute  re- 
garding Japanese  immigration  into  the  Pacific  States. 

The  school  question  he  dismisses  as  ^Trivial”;  admits 
the  difficulty  of  harmonizing  State  rights  in  California 
with  national  control  at  Washington;  admits  America’s 
right  to  regulate  the  influx  of  newcomers  who  wish  to 
share  the  benefits  of  her  national  organization,  and  then 
flashes  at  once  to  the  crux  of  the  whole  question — a thing 
that  concerns  something  far  deeper  than  land  owner- 
ship, profit,  or  education ; the  thing  that  has  made  proud, 
sensitive,  tremendously  efficient  Japan  wince  to  the 
quick.  He  says : 

“Japan  does  not  deny  that  right,  but  al- 
leges that  her  people  alone  among  the  subjects 
of  civilized  powers  are  subjected  to  discrimina- 
tory and  humiliating  treatment.” 

The  writer  sees  in  the  situation  what  he  calls  “a  dis- 
pute between  two  rights.”  In  actual  practice  he  says 
the  question  will  settle  itself. 

“Japan  does  not  require  and  does  not  claim 
the  right  of  unrestricted  entry.  America, 
while  bound  to  defend  her  right  to  complete 
control  of  immigration,  does  not  wish  to  dis- 
criminate unfairly,  and  can  achieve  her  pur- 
pose without  it.” 

And  then  this  wise  and  lucid  writer  leaps  to  a con- 
clusion so  logical  as  to  be  self-evident,  so  convincing  as 
to  furnish  an  absolute  reply  to  every  American  jingo 
argument. 

Listen : 

“Anyway,  as  for  Japan  it  is  sufficient  to 
point  out  that  the  question  is  not  worth  the 
bones  of  a single  Japanese  infantryman.  Ja- 
pan, with  her  straightened  resources,  will 
never  go  to  war  for  the  right  to  lose  her  sub- 
jects to  other  nations.  And  the  Japanese  are 
by  no  means  so  ignorant  of  realities  as  to 
dream  of  successful  aggression  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Pacific.” 


12 


Thus  tumbles  into  ruins  the  fatuous  idea  ‘That  only 
among  Occidental  nations  can  Japan  find  the  stimuli 
for  her  future  development.” 

The  writer  of  this  cogent  editorial  says: 

“Japan’s  policy  faces  west,  not  east.  It  is 
in  Asia  she  must  seek  her  destiny.” 

And  in  Asia  we  have  no  more  business  interfering 
with  Japan,  so  long  as  she  safeguards  the  open  door  for 
the  world’s  commerce,  than  we  had  in  fighting  the 
battles  of  jealous  oil  kings  of  Mexico. 

There  remains  the  question  of  the  Japanese  in  Amer- 
ica, judged  not  from  the  standpoint  of  jealous  and  ever- 
contending  politics,  but  by  the  opinions  of  a very  large 
number  of  sensible  public-spirited  Americans  who  live 
in  constant  contact  with  conditions  on  our  Pacific  coast. 

I chanced  a few  months  ago  to  sit  at  a table  with 
the  editor  of  one  of  the  sanest  and  most  influential  news- 
papers on  the  Pacific  Coast.  What  he  said  is  not  to  be 
quoted  perhaps  as  the  policy  of  his  paper,  nor  shall  I 
quote  him  as  personal  authority,  although  he  imposed 
no  ban  of  secrecy : 

“I  am  by  no  means  in  favor,”  he  said,  “of 
an  unlimited  and  unrestricted  influx  of  Japan- 
ese, or,  for  that  matter,  of  any  alien  people. 
Oriental  or  otherwise.  But  we  are  in  no  dan- 
ger of  that.  J apan  does  not  ask  nor  desire  any 
such  thing.  But  up  to  any  reasonable,  or,  for 
that  matter,  probable  point,  I am  in  favor  of 
admitting  the  Japanese. 

“We  need  them  in  the  development  of  our 
territory.  They  make  by  far  the  best  and  most 
trusty  labor  that  we  can  obtain.  They  are 
industrious,  clean,  frugal,  amenable  to  direc- 
tion and  control.  Compared  with  other  avail- 
able labor,  they  are  not  in  the  same  class. 

“They  gain  by  it,  to  be  sure,  but  so  do  we. 

And  if  our  much-exploited  and  much-pro- 
tected American  labor  will  not  and  cannot  ac- 
complish this  result,  why  should  it  play  the 
dog  in  the  manger  and  shut  out  those  who 
will?” 


13 


And  this,  leaving  aside  the  question  of  acquiring 
American  citizenship,  and  the  ever  easily  invoked, 
though  utterly  nonsensical  bogy  of  preparation  by  the 
Japanese  farmers  for  eventual  war — this  is  the  attitude 
of  many  of  the  most  far-sighted  and  sensible  men  of  the 
Pacific  coast. 

But,  so  far  as  this  whole  question  of  Japanese  im- 
migration is  concerned,  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  Jap- 
anese people  and  the  Japanese  government,  it  is  not  the 
mere  matter  of  getting  Japanese  into  the  United  States. 
Were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  Japan  is  hopelessly,  help- 
lessly overcrowded  with  her  rapidly  increasing  popula- 
tion, she  would  not  want,  she  would  not  be  willing,  that 
any  of  her  peopie  should  seek  lodgment  oversea.  She 
would  much  prefer  keeping  them  at  home,  building 
up  and  increasing  her  national  strength. 

Nor  does  Japan  object  in  theory  to  the  claim  of  Cali- 
fornia, or,  for  that  matter,  of  the  whole  United  States, 
to  a right  to  regulate  and  restrict  foreign  immigration. 
On  the  contrary,  she  has  done,  and  is  doing,  the  self- 
same thing  herself. 

The  thing  that  Japan  objects  to,  the  thing  that  has 
cut  her  national  pride  to  the  quick,  is  the  fact  that  she 
has  been  singled  out  from  among  the  many;  that  she 
has  been  assigned  to  a place  among  the  lowest  class  of 
“undesirable  aliens.”  The  fact  that  the  city  of  San 
Francisco  is  full  of  aliens  from  the  rivers  and  the  ends 
of  the  earth — Polacks,  Lithuanians,  Huns,  Eussian 
Jews — illiterate,  un-American,  but  who  can  send  their 
children  to  school,  own  land,  engage  in  business,  while 
she,  a nation  of  public  schools  and  colleges,  where  ever}’ 
child  of  twelve  can  read  and  write;  where  illiteracy  is 
a thing  belonging  only  to  the  oldest  and  rapidly  passing 
generation,  is  singled  out  for  apparent  and  intentional 
discrimination — this  is  Japan’s  complaint;  this  is  her 
appeal  to  the  national  sense  of  fairness  and  justice  that 
has  been  the  boast  of  America. 

In  Japan  in  1913  41,620  books  were  published,  while 
Germany,  the  most  bookish  of  European  nations,  had 
only  31,281  volumes  to  her  credit.  Japan  has  become  a 
land  of  book  stores,  libraries,  and  daily  newspapers.  In 
no  city  that  I have  ever  visited  around  the  world  have  I 


14 


seen  more  book  stalls  than  in  Tokio.  Stop  for  a call  any- 
where in  Japan,  when  you  come  out  to  resume  your 
way,  you  are  sure  to  find  your  jinrikisha  cooley  seated 
on  the  cross-piece  between  the  shafts  of  his  pull-car 
immersed  in  his  book  or  newspaper. 

If  you  want  to  understand  Japan’s  position  of  hurt 
and  wounded  pride,  remember  her  marvelous  exhibit 
at  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition. 

It  was  as  if  she  were,  in  patient,  proud,  courageous 
desperation,  casting  her  all  in  one  final  appeal. 

In  California,  the  home  of  her  dearest  foe,  she 
made  the  most  wonderful  exhibition  she  has  ever 
created.  It  was  as  if  she  had  thrown  her  su- 
preme challenge  for  rightful  recognition  into  one 
momentous  cast.  In  almost  every  department  she  sur- 
passed every  other  foreign  country;  in  aggregate  she 
far  exceeded  any,  and  rivalled  our  own.  And  as  in 
San  Francisco,  Avith  its  motley  medley  of  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men,  she  laid  down  her  wonderful  showing 
in  art,  in  manufacture,  in  education,  in  scientific  ac- 
complishment, it  was  as  if  she  turned  her  hand  palm 
upward,  and  said : 

“I  appeal  from  Philip  drunk  to  Philip 
sober.  Am  I an  undesirable  alien,  am  I the 
yelloAV  peril,  or  have  I a right  by  virtue  of  ac- 
complishment in  the  sisterhood  of  modern 
civilization  and  advancing  culture?” 

It  is  not  a cry  for  conquest — not  a blatant  proclama- 
tion of  martial  prowess;  it  is  a people  who  have  done 
much,  asking  recognition  among  the  people  of  the 
world. 

But  what  about  Japan  politically,  internationally, 
particularly  as  related  to  tbe  United  States  and  to  the 
world,  just  at  this  particular  and  peculiar  moment  in 
world  affairs?  I^Jiat  about  Japan  and  China?  What 
about  Japan  in  Mexico? 

For  any  sort  of  an  intelligent  reply  to  these  questions, 
there  are  certain  facts  fundamentally  necessary  to  be 
understood. 


15 


The  first  and  most  important  one  is  to  appreciate  the 
fact  that  with  Japan’s  recent  awakening  and  her  un- 
precedented advance  as  a modern  State,  her  necessities 
for  room  and  reach  became  greatly  magnified.  The 
Japan  of  paper  lanterns  and  pictured  fans  could  live 
much  more  easily  and  comfortably  than  can  the  Japan 
of  express  trains  and  telegraphs,  of  electric  lights  and 
palatial  ocean  liners. 

Japan  today  is  hopelessly  overcrowded,  so  far  as  the 
demands  of  modern  life  go. 

There  are  six  hundred  and  six  islands  in  the  Empire ; 
six  large  ones,  six  hundred  that  range  from  a jutting 
crown  of  coral  to  considerable  area. 

Together  they  aggregate  260,738  square  miles,  in- 
cluding littoral,  moiintains,  everything.  Of  this  not  to 
exceed  25  per  cent  is  arable;  the  rest  practically  worth- 
less, so  far  as  production  goes.  On  this  modicum  of 
fertile  soil,  fertile  after  centuries  of  continuous  cultiva- 
tion only  by  dint  of  artificial  enrichment  and  most  in- 
tensive agriculture,  subsists  a population  of  more  than 
fifty-three  million,  increasing  at  a normal  rate  of 
600,000  yearly. 

Japan  has  more  than  half  the  population  of  the 
United  States,  with  an  area  only  one  twenty-fourth  as 
large.  She  has  twenty-one  times  the  population  of  Cali- 
fornia, with  an  area  not  quite  as  Iqrge. 

Her  population  averages  370  to  the  square  mile,  while 
we  average  25  for  the  entire  country,  and  for  California 
about  15. 

Life  with  Japan  has  become  a question  of  breathing 
space.  She  must  expand  or  smother. 

The  second  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  that  Japan, 
by  dint  of  her  own  indomitable  energy,  by  virtue  of  the 
most  sublimated  purpose  and  labor  in  modern  history, 
has  won  for  herself  the  premiership  of  Asia?  About 
her  are  nations  as  yet  far  inferior  both  in  ideal  and  ac- 
complishment. Great  soporific  China,  yawning  in  her 
gradual  awakening;  stolid,  stupid  Siberia,  stoop- 
shouldered under  the  yoke  of  the  Muscovite;  India, 


16 


even  after  an  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  British  rule, 
primitive  and  swept  by  recurrent  famine.  Among  them 
Japan  stands  conscious  and  conceded  leader — a modern 
world  power,  though  born  as  in  a day.  What  more 
natural  than  that  she  should  set  up  a shibboleth  of 
“Asia  for  the  Asiatics,”  and  announce  herself  as  the 
framer  and,  if  necessary,  the  protector  of  a Monroe 
Doctrine  for  the  Orient.  Who  are  we  that  we  should 
object  ? She  learned  the  dearly  adored  philosophy  from 
us.  Can  we  consistently  interpose  a word  of  objection 
if  Japan  duplicates  our  own  creed? 

We  have  said  to  the  political  and  commercial  greed 
of  the  nations,  “Hands  off  the  Americas.”  Why  should 
not  Japan,  our  earnest  pupil  in  so  much  of  her  ac- 
complishment, echo  our  words,  with  none  to  say  her 
nay? 

With  these  two  facts  fairly  in  mind,  Japan’s  present 
coiidition  and  her  present  purposes  become  fairly  in- 
telligible. 

Between  them  and  our  conclusion  there  is  one  other 
fact  to  be  interposed,  and  that  is  an  appreciation  of  the 
extreme  sagacity,  the  marvelous  foresightedness  of  this 
remarkable  nation  and  her  astute  statesmen.  It  is 
orientalism  raised  to  the  nth  power. 

We  of  the  Occident  are  impetuous,  clumsy,  impatient 
of  delay,  anxious  for  immediate  results. 

The  soul  of  the  Orient  is  infinite  patience — a per- 
sistency that  has  learned  the  wisdom  of  waiting.  Like 
a skilled  player,  her  moves  upon  the  chessboard  look 
to  a final  result.  Take  these  two  things,  the  one  of 
which  she  must  have,  the  other  for  which  every  im- 
pulse of  national  pride  and  spirit  cries  aloud. 

She  must  have  territory — room  for  her  surplus  popu- 
lation. There  were  two  ways  by  which  she  might  have 
attained  it — conquest  or  purchase. 

The  one  she  did  not  desire — of  the  other  she  was 
incapable.  Japan  does  not  want  to  fight.  Her  shoulders 
are  still  aching,  her  wounds  are  barely  staunched  from 
her  titanic  war  with  Eussia.  Japan  wants  no  war. 


17 


Count  Komura  emphasized  this  to  me  nine  years  ago. 
Count  Okmna  has  re-emphasized  it  over  and  again  dur- 
ing these  troublous  days.  The  Japanese  are  not  by 
inclination  bellicose  and  quarrelsome.  I have  found 
them  the  very  opposite.  Count  Okuma  said  to  me ; 
“What  Japan  wants,  what  Japan  must  have,  is  an  era  of 
quiet  prosperity  and  constructive  peace.”  And  Count 
Okuma  is  president  of  the  Japanese  Peace  Society. 

And  Japan  could  not  buy,  because  Japan  is  poor, 
burdened  with  a stupendous  debt,  for  whose  discharge 
as  yet  she  has  found  but  little  by  way  of  sinking  fund. 
She  carries  an  indebtedness  of  a billion  three  hundred 
million  dollars,  while  we  in  the  United  States  have  but 
one  billion  or  less.  Japan’s  indebtedness  averages  a 
per  capita  of  $21.35,  and  her  interest  charge  approxi- 
mates $75,000,000  yearly.  And  this  is  an  additional 
reason  why  Japan  does  not  want  war.  She  wants  trade, 
commerce,  profit,  a place,  and  a great  place,  in  the  marts 
of  the  world. 

And  yet  you  say  she  fought  tremendously  and  vic- 
toriously against  the  Germans  in  Kiao-Chau.  So  she 
did.  Under  her  treaty  with  Great  Britain  she  could  do 
nothing  else,  especially  when  England  furnished  the 
money  and  Japan  but  a handful  from  her  millions  of 
men. 

But  her  entry  into  the  European  war  was  not  only 
a shrewd,  but  a far-seeing  move.  It  gave  her  occupation 
of  Chinese  territory — territory  which  she  solemnly 
promised  to  recede  to  China  “under  certain  conditions.” 
And  she  will  keep  her  word  if  her  conditions  are  met, 
and  they  demand  the  two  great  fundamental  things 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  room  and  place — relief  from 
her  congested  population  and  the  whip-hand  in  the  de- 
velopment of  China.  And  her  conquest  of  the  Germans 
makes  one  thing  doubly  sure:  that  when  the  world’s 
war  is  ended  and  the  overtures  for  peace  are  begun,  at 
the  council  table  of  the  nations,  a peer  among  her  equals, 
will  sit  the  Sunrise  Kingdom  of  the  Orient,  the  Premier 
of  Asia. 

To  this  program  of  national  ambition  there  are  many 
who  will  raise  objection.  Our  commercial  interests  are 
imperiled.  American  money  and  American  trade  are 
jeopardized ! 


18 


Japan  has  protested  that  she  will  stand  by  the  “Open 
Door^’  in  China,  but  she  claims  the  right  to  stand  by 
the  door. 

It  is  a poor  time  to  make  much  ado  about  mere  com- 
mercial considerations. 

American  capital  has  cut  some  queer  capers  in 
Mexico,  and  no  one  can  say  how  much  commercial 
jealousy  had  to  do  in  bringing  on  the  world’s  present 
horror. 

But  we  can’t  afford  to  underestimate  the  power  and 
purpose  of  Japan.  They  are  too  wise  to  fight  if  they 
can  attain  their  ends  by  diplomacy  and  compromise, 
but  in  a pinch  they  can  fight,  and  fight  tremendously; 
but,  as  Count  Okuma  says,  not  “until  they  are  cornered, 
until  their  honor  has  been  stained,  until  that  is  the 
only  course.” 

Japan  has  made  friends  with  Mexico.  It  is  said  she 
has  acquired  85,000  acres  for  an  agricultural  colony 
at  Guaymas,  right  at  the  southern  portal  of  the  United 
States,  and  is  going  to  teach  the  Mexicans  how  to  de- 
velop their  country.  Possibly  that  is  Japan’s  answer 
to  California.  Quien  sabe? 

Be  all  that  as  it  may,  Japan  intends  to  safeguard  a 
Monroe  Doctrine  for  Asia,  and,  money  or  no  money, 
remember  that,  so  far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned, 
“people  that  live  in  glass  houses  should  not  throw 
stones.” 

In  conclusion,  then,  Japan  is  keeping  her  promise. 
She  is  playing  the  gentleman.  She  is  not  attempting 
to  force  unwelcome  immigration  upon  us.  That  whole 
question  has  been  immeasurably  bettered  in  that  the 
scene  of  interest  has  shifted  from  California  to  China. 

There  will  be  no  war  with  Japan,  unless  we  with  our 
continual  yammering  and  yowling  make  it  unavoidable. 

If  we  keep  on  talking  about  it,  insisting  upon  it,  pre- 
paring against  it,  we’ll  get  it — and  we’ll  deserve  it. 


19 


But  these  Japanese  are  no  fools. 

1.  They  know  the  difference  between  fifty 
millions  impoverished,  congested  people,  in- 
creasing in  their  straightened  environment  at 
the  rate  of  600,000  yearly,  and  an  hundred 
millions  with  illimitable  resources  at  their 
back.  They  know,  however  troublesome  they 
might  be  for  a time,  war  would  mean  but  one 
thing — the  final  and  inevitable  ruin  of  Japan. 

2.  We  are  Japan’s  best  customer.  It  will 
be  years  before  exhausted  and  war-ravaged 
Europe  will  need  Japan’s  peculiar  merchan- 
dise. Europe  will  need  pork  and  beans,  flour 
and  sugar,  brick  and  mortar,  for  a long  time 
before  she  will  want  silk  and  embroidery, 
damascene  and  cloisone — the  deft  artistry  of 
the  Orient.  Break  the  commercial  bond  with 
America  and  Japan  will  stand  face  to  face 
with  financial  ruin.  She  is  making  money 
now  in  war  munitions,  but  that  will  stop  some 
day,  and  she  needs  every  yen  she  can  make. 
Japan’s  play  now,  regardless  of  her  real  and 
inmost  soul — -J apan’s  policy  demands  peace 
and  friendship  with  America,  and  she  will  not 
break  either,  unless  she  is  driven  to  it. 

Just  let  us  be  true  and  honest,  straightforward  and 
faithful,  and  we  shall  still,  in  spite  of  avarice  and 
itching  greed,  fulfill  the  vision  of  our  fathers,  and 
America  shall  be  “the  friend  of  all  humanity — the  ideal 
of  the  world.” 


21 


Addenda. 


FACTS  ABOUT  JAPAN. 

The  Empire: 

Consists  of  six  hundred  and  six  islands  and  of 
Korea  (Chosan)  on  the  main  land  of  Asia. 
Total  area,  260,738  square  miles. 

Population  1915,  53,696,868. 


The  Army: 

On  a peace  basis,  250,000. 

Keserves  (veterans),  1,250,000. 

Total  war  strength,  1,500,000. 

Total  available  men  of  military  age,  8,239,372. 
Military  service  compulsory,  and  training  in  all 
schools. 

The  Navy: 

Eanks,  1916,  fifth  in  world. 

5 dreadnaught  battleships. 

4 battle  cruisers. 

14  pre-dreadnaughts.  ♦ . 

13  armored  cruisers. 

22  cruisers  (protected). 

12  gunboats. 

52  destroyers. 

55  torpedo  boats. 

17  submarines. 


PERSONELLE. 

Peace  footing,  48,000. 

Eeserves  (veterans),  115,000. 

Total  war  strength,  163,000. 

Japan’s  greatest  ship,  the  Fuso,  is  an  up-to-date 
super-dreadnaught  of  30,000  tons’  displacement, 
armed  with  15-inch  guns.  Three  sister  ships 
are  said  to  be  in  process  of  construction. 


22 


The  Exchequer : 

The  national  income,  $387,596,000. 

The  national  budget,  $335,874,000. 

Apparent  surplus,  $51,732,000. 

The  national  debt,  $1,295,590,000. 

Annual  interest,  $73,213,000. 

Commerce: 

Japan’s  imports,  $363,000,000. 

Japan’s  exports,  $304,000,000. 

Debit  of  trade,  $59,000,000. 

United  States  trade — 

From  Japan,  $98,883,638. 

To  Japan,  $41,514,792. 

We  were  buying  in  1914  nearly  33J  of  Japan’s 
export.  Now  we  are  taking  more  than  52  per 
cent  of  it. 

Emigration: 

Total  Japanese  living — 

Abroad,  358,711. 

June  30,  1914 — 

Japanese  in  IT.  S.  A.,  80,773. 

In  Hawaii,  90,808. 

In  Philippines,  5,179. 

In  Guam,  119. 

Japanese  in  China,  131,956. 

In  Brazil,  15,465. 

In  Canada,  11,959. 

In  Australia,  6,661  . 

In  Peru,  5,381. 

In  Mexico,  2,737. 

Normal  increase  of  population  at  home  600,000 
yearly. 

Density  of  population  370  to  the  square  mile. 


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